Analyzing Competing Origin Myths and Interpretations Through Hegemonic Representations
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Neuer Nationalismus Im Östlichen Europa
Irene Götz, Klaus Roth, Marketa Spiritova (Hg.) Neuer Nationalismus im östlichen Europa Ethnografische Perspektiven auf das östliche Europa Band 3 Editorial Die tiefgreifenden Transformationsprozesse, die die Gesellschaften des östli- chen Europas seit den letzten Jahrzehnten prägen, werden mit Begriffen wie Postsozialismus, Globalisierung und EU-Integration nur oberflächlich be- schrieben. Ethnografische Ansätze vermögen es, die damit einhergehenden Veränderungen der Alltage, Biografien und Identitäten multiperspektivisch und subjektorientiert zu beleuchten. Die Reihe Ethnografische Perspektiven auf das östliche Europa gibt vertiefte Einblicke in die Verflechtungen von ma- krostrukturellen Politiken und ihren medialen Repräsentationen mit den Prak- tiken der Akteurinnen und Akteure in urbanen wie ländlichen Lebenswelten. Themenfelder sind beispielsweise identitätspolitische Inszenierungen, Prozes- se des Nation Building, privates und öffentliches Erinnern, neue soziale Bewe- gungen und transnationale Mobilitäten in einer sich umgestaltenden Bürger- kultur. Die Reihe wird herausgegeben von Prof. Dr. Irene Götz, Professorin für Euro- päische Ethnologie an der LMU München. Irene Götz, Klaus Roth, Marketa Spiritova (Hg.) Neuer Nationalismus im östlichen Europa Kulturwissenschaftliche Perspektiven Dieses Werk ist lizenziert unter der Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (BY). Diese Lizenz erlaubt unter Voraussetzung der Namensnennung des Urhebers die Bearbeitung, Vervielfältigung und Verbreitung des Materials in jedem For- mat oder Medium für -
Objet Petit A,” Once Socialist-Modernist City Square Into a Theatrical Backdrop
She just goes a little mad sometimes. We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven’t you? – Norman Bates in Psycho This essay is an galma dedicated to the Macedonian government’s project “Skopje 2014,” 01/09 which recently turned Skopje, the capital of the Republic, into a memorial park of “false memories.”1 Over the last five years, a series of unskillfully casted figurative monuments have appeared throughout Skopje, installed over the night, as if brought into public space by the animated hand from the opening credits of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.2 Figures from the Suzana Milevska national past (some relevant, some marginal), buildings with obvious references to Westernized aesthetic regimes (mere imitations of styles from çgalma: The periods atypical for the local architecture), and sexist public sculptures have transformed the ‟Objet Petit a,” once socialist-modernist city square into a theatrical backdrop. Alexander the ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊMore than ninety years ago, in a kind of a manifesto of anti-monumental architectural and artistic revolution, Vladimir Tatlin challenged 4 Great, and 1 both the “bourgeois” Eiffel Tower and the Statue 0 2 of Liberty with his unbuilt tower Monument to the e j p Third International (1919–25). Since then, Other Excesses o k S discourses on contemporary monuments have f o flourished elsewhere in Europe (“anti- s of Skopje 2014 e monuments,” “counter-monuments,” “low- s s e budget monuments,” “invisible monuments,” c x E “monument in waiting,” “participatory r 3 e monuments” ) but this debate has completely h t O a bypassed the Macedonian establishment. k d s n v ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊÊThe government’s promise that the Skopje a e l , i t 2014 project would attract tourists and a M e a r journalists to Macedonia has been realized, but n G a e z for all the wrong reasons – in many articles, h u t S r Ê Skopje’s city center is depicted as a kind of e 4 d 1 “theme park,” and some of the newly built n 0 a 2 x r museums are referred to as “chambers of e l e 4 b A horrors.” In short, Skopje 2014 has become a m ” , e a t laughing stock for the foreign press. -
Nationalism As Ideology: a Reflection on the Group Remaking Tendencies in Macedonia
Nationalism as Ideology: A Reflection on the Group Remaking Tendencies in Macedonia Master Thesis for the award of the academic degree of Master of Arts (MA) at the Karl-Franzens-University of Graz submitted by: Branimir Staletovik at the Centre for Southeast European Studies Supervisor: Univ. Professor Florian Bieber Graz, 2015 Table of Contents Introduction............................................................................................................................1 The Rise of Nationalism in Macedonia................................................................................1 Chapter I: Nationalism as Ideology .....................................................................................5 Antiquization and Skopje 2014 – a critical reflection on the existing approaches ..............5 From Identity to Ideology ....................................................................................................8 Beyond Identity..................................................................................................................10 Nationalism as Ideology ....................................................................................................13 Thesis Goals and Methods .................................................................................................16 Nationalism in Macedonia and the Post-Yugoslav States..................................................18 Chapter II: The evolvement of ancient narrative in Macedonia and ‘diaspora’...........24 A Historical Reflection on the -
Digging in Kitsch Depths
Digging in Kitsch Depths Uncovering Urban Development Projects Skopje 2014 - Inverdan Iris Verschuren Erasmus Mundus Master Course in Urban Studies 4 Cities Academic Year of Defence: 2017-2018 Date of Submission: September 1, 2017 Supervisors Martin Zerlang, Henrik Reeh Second Reader Bas van Heur Abstract This research concerns itself with forms of kitsch in two urban development projects. These projects in Skopje, Macedonia and Zaandam, The Netherlands, are discussed in their specific contexts and then analysed along a framework based on themes and topics related to the cultural category of kitsch. This category deals with both stylistic and aesthetic characteristics, but also focuses on processes outside of the object. Thus it enables to think of kitsch as a label that can just as well be applied to politics, policies or therefore urban development projects apart from just cultural objects. Furthermore linking kitsch with the ideologies and narratives of the UDPs shows how these are expressed in the actual physical form. In the end it is about the question what labeling these projects kitsch means, but also in what ways the label is used or applied and what kind of responses this evokes thus answering ‘in what ways can kitsch be related to the contemporary urban development projects Skopje 2014 and Inverdan?’ Although the cities and projects are incredibly different in context and the resulting style, there are still similarities in the way that kitsch is used and how this relates to a continuing global pressure to compete in neoliberal -
The New Face of Skopje and the Macedonians’ Identity Dilemma
Paper prepared for the Sixth Euroacademia International Conference Re-Inventing Eastern Europe Belgrade, 27 – 28 January 2017 This paper is a draft Please do not cite or circulate 1 Make Macedonia great again! The new face of Skopje and the Macedonians’ identity dilemma. Piacentini Arianna University of Milan [email protected] Abstract For long time, the existence and the nature of the Macedonian nation have been contested by Macedonia’s neighbours - particularly Greece and Bulgaria. With the establishment of Tito’s Yugoslavia Macedonia became a federal unit and its inhabitants, the Macedonians, a constituent nation. However, the Yugoslav decades seems to have been only a buffer-time period, and identity disputes re-emerged in 1991 with Macedonia’s declaration of independence. A huge debate with Greece started over the use of the term Macedonia but, more profoundly, over the symbolical meaning and national importance of all that the term Macedonia symbolizes. From 2010, the Macedonian government has undertaken a project called “Skopje 2014”, aimed to renew the capital city Skopje not only by adopting neo-baroque style and building statues but also renaming the major streets, the stadium, the airport and the schools after the names of alleged ancestors lived in “a glorious past”. Hence, the project has gradually shaped, and changed, not only the identity of Skopje but the one of the Macedonian nation more generally, producing new national narratives. The importance in analysing what seemed to be a simple urban renovation lays, therefore, in a devious identity politics whose narrative is emphasizing a direct descent of the Macedonian people from Alexander the Great. -
North Macedonia: 'New' Country Facing Old Problems
North Macedonia: ‘New’ country facing old problems A research on the name change of the Republic of North Macedonia Willem Posthumus – s4606027 Master Thesis Human Geography - Conflicts, Territories and Identities Nijmegen School of Management Radboud University Nijmegen Supervisor Henk van Houtum October 2019 36.989 words Once, from eastern ocean to western ocean, the land stretched away without names. Nameless headlands split the surf; nameless lakes reflected nameless mountains; and nameless rivers flowed through nameless valleys into nameless bays. G. R. Stewart, 1945, p. 3 2 I Preface After a bit more than a year, I can hereby present my master’s thesis. It’s about a name. Around 100 pages about a name: I could not have thought it would be such an extensive topic. Last year I had heard about Macedonia, or the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as it was often called. I didn’t know it that well, just that it used to be part of Yugoslavia, obviously. An item in the news, however, triggered my interest: the country was about to change its name to North Macedonia. ‘Why?’ I thought. I didn’t know about the name dispute, but the more I read about it, the more I wanted to know. When I had to choose a subject for my master’s thesis, I knew I would look at this name change. A year later, I think I understand the name change and the dispute better. Still, the topic is more complicated than I thought. Understanding everything there is about it would probably take a lot more time. -
Relations Between Macedonia, Greece and China After the Prespa Agreement Anastas Vangeli
ISSN: 2560-1601 Vol. 15, No. 4 (MK) February 2019 Macedonia external relations briefing: Relations Between Macedonia, Greece and China After the Prespa Agreement Anastas Vangeli 1052 Budapest Petőfi Sándor utca 11. +36 1 5858 690 Kiadó: Kína-KKE Intézet Nonprofit Kft. [email protected] Szerkesztésért felelős személy: Chen Xin Kiadásért felelős személy: Huang Ping china-cee.eu 2017/01 Relations Between Macedonia, Greece and China After the Prespa Agreement Introduction The Prespa Agreement by which the former Republic of Macedonia obliged to change its constitutional name to the Republic of North Macedonia (hereinafter Macedonia) had brought the infamous Macedonian-Greek naming dispute to an end, at least for the time being. The political will to come to an agreement was not (only) a result of the cosmopolitan outlook of the elites in Skopje and Athens, but rather, a product of careful pragmatic calculus about the respective countries' international position. For Macedonia, a solution of the name dispute is expected to unlock and accelerate its accession to NATO, and facilitate its accession to the EU. For Greece, aside from opening new opportunities to re-emerge as a constructive stakeholder in the region of the Balkans, it was also an option to portray itself as a constructive actor in the Euro-Atlantic community. The Agreement itself was thus considered to be of utmost importance to the EU, NATO, and the governments of Western European countries and the US; and the way in which Macedonia (and Greece) aligned their strategic interests with the West. However, by changing the dynamics of the region and adjusting the positions of Greece and Macedonia, the Prespa Agreement has also potential to affect the two countries' relations with other, non- Western actors as well. -
A Balanced View of the Balkans
aBalanced View of theBalkans DESPITE SUCCESSES, PILLARS OF PROGRESS SEEM TO BE ERODING Dr. Matthew Rhodes and Dr. Dragan Lozancic George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies hroughout the 1990s, interethnic violence placed Southeast Europe at the center of the Euro-Atlantic security agenda. Today, perceptions of the region gravitate toward one of two extremes. Many current policymakers, pressed with greater immediate challenges elsewhere, dismiss the Balkan conflict as a problem Tresolved. Meanwhile, prominent former officials and area specialists warn that the region once again stands on the brink of explosion. More balanced assessments seem lost in between. Despite the end of armed conflict, and steps toward recovery and transformation, remaining problems should not be underestimated. Still, “crying wolf” alarmism risks reinforcing the very complacence it seeks to overcome. What is required is more sober examina- tion of the factors producing qualified success as well as those blocking further advancement. Progressively addressing the Balkans’ unfinished business is vital in the first place for the people of the region themselves. It would also offer hope and lessons for resolving conflicts elsewhere. One key element that helped end large-scale fighting and open the way for political and economic renewal has been the scope of international effort. The initial NATO peacekeeping forces in Bosnia and Kosovo numbered 60,000 and 45,000 troops, respectively. Relative to local population, these levels were roughly 50 times higher than in post-2001 Afghanistan and four times the surge peak in Iraq.1 The $14 billion in foreign aid assistance to Bosnia through 2007 translated into a similar edge of $300 per person per year versus $65 in Afghanistan.2 A second factor has been the pull of Euro-Atlantic integration. -
The Struggle Over Memory Hidden in the Contemporary Cityscape: the Example of Skopje 2014, Macedonia103
Journal of Urban Ethnology, 2014, 12, s. 103-118 The struggle over memory hidden in the contemporary cityscape: the example of Skopje 2014, Macedonia103 Journal of Urban Ethnology 12/2014 PL ISSN 1429-0618 Karolina Koziura Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie The struggle over memory hidden in the contemporary cityscape: the example of Skopje 2014, Macedonia Abstract A city is a product of not only urban planners and architects, but also of politicians, writers and members of various groups who treat it as theirs. The struggle over memory is visible in many places. However, I claim that various „symbolic wars” are especially visible in the case of the post-socialist urban revival. The city of Skopje is a case in point. Nowadays, Skopje can be perceived as a symbolic battlefield through which diverse exclusive and inclusive myths are created and negotiated. The aim of the „Skopje 2014” project analyzed in this article is to restructure the city center of Skopje in style of the Antiquity by renovating facades, raising new buildings and establishing a number of new monuments. I claim that, through various meanings of nostalgia, this project conceals the nationalizing policy of the Macedonian government on the one hand, and the search for a new urban identity and its connection with the European heritage on the other hand. Keywords: memory and place, urban nostalgia, nationalizing policy, Skopje, Macedonia * * * Miasto jest produktem nie tylko urbanistów i architektów, ale również polityków pisarzy i członków różnych grup, które postrzegają miasto jak własne. Walka o pamięć jest widoczna w wielu miejscach. Jednakże uważam, że na post-socjalistycznym gruncie różne miejskie „wojny symboliczne” są szczególnie widoczne. -
Narrative Spaces in Skopje Janev, Goran
www.ssoar.info Contesting ethnocratic spatial order: narrative spaces in Skopje Janev, Goran Veröffentlichungsversion / Published Version Zeitschriftenartikel / journal article Empfohlene Zitierung / Suggested Citation: Janev, G. (2016). Contesting ethnocratic spatial order: narrative spaces in Skopje. European Quarterly of Political Attitudes and Mentalities, 5(2), 24-35. https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-46835-2 Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Dieser Text wird unter einer CC BY-NC-ND Lizenz This document is made available under a CC BY-NC-ND Licence (Namensnennung-Nicht-kommerziell-Keine Bearbeitung) zur (Attribution-Non Comercial-NoDerivatives). For more Information Verfügung gestellt. Nähere Auskünfte zu den CC-Lizenzen finden see: Sie hier: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.de European Quarterly of Political Attitudes and Mentalities EQPAM Volume 5, No.2, April 2016 ISSN 2285 – 4916 ISSN-L 2285 - 4916 Contesting Ethnocratic Spatial Order: Narrative Spaces in Skopje _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Goran Janev Institute for Sociological, Political and Legal Research Sts Cyril and Methodius University, Skopje Republic of Macedonia Date of submission: March 17th, 2015 Date of acceptance: April 18rd, 2016 __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract This paper employs the concept of narrative spaces to identify the dynamic processes -
The Resolution of the Macedonian Name Dispute: A
THE RESOLUTION OF THE MACEDONIAN NAME DISPUTE: A STUDY OF THE FACTORS THAT LED TO THE SIGNING OF THE PRESPA AGREEMENT Asen Voynov [email protected] S2247216 June 2019 Asen Voynov S2247216 Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................2 List of Abbreviations...................................................................................................................3 1. Introduction .............................................................................................................................4 1.1 Research Question .............................................................................................................5 1.2 Relevance ..........................................................................................................................6 2. Historical Context ...................................................................................................................8 2.1 The Birth of the Macedonian Question ...............................................................................8 2.2 The Birth of a Nation ....................................................................................................... 10 2.3 The Birth of the Name Dispute ........................................................................................ 11 3. Literature Review ................................................................................................................. -
Info Brochure
29 August - 7 September 2014 INFO BROCHURE sch2014 - for the participants 2 map of skopje center 4 locations 5 general information 6 landmarks 7 skopje in the world media 18 getting there 19 accomodation 19 food 20 museums 20 night life 21 nature 21 for internal use only CITY CREATIVE NETWORK www.citycreative.net info brochure: skopje: sch2014 SCH2014 - FOR THE PARTICIPANTS about CCN City Creative Network is an international organization of young professionals from various creative disciplines based in Skopje. We propagate critical and innovative approach to urbanity. Our main aim is developing strategic concepts for activating public spaces which offer a frame for free ex- pression, together with the citizens. CCN is also an educational center with public database. Our network is a place where young professionals meet>collaborate>create>act. aim and inspiration for this event Establishing a collaboration between local and international professionals and students from various creative disciplines. Addressing contemporary city issues by developing relevant, applica- ble and strategic research and design proposals. Possibility for direct collaboration with eminent professionals from the region and Europe. Develop new content in public space grounded in the specificities of the city. Raising the awareness of the citizens for their importance and role in the planning and development of the city. target group, their work and benefits Students from various creative disciplines that are willing to work ambitiously and act directly on the city. Guided by tutors, the students will conduct research, design and construct physical inter- ventions in the city-space and join a series of discussions. They will be divided in 5 groups some of which will develop and build installations and others will do research, mapping, exhibitions and discussions.